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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26751232">Player Two</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jen425/pseuds/Jen425'>Jen425</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Enter the Game [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Kamen Rider - All Media Types, Kamen Rider Ex-Aid, Tokusatsu</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>2nd person POV, Complicated Relationships, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Torture, Parad (Kamen Rider Ex-Aid) Needs A Hug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 12:13:44</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>885</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26751232</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jen425/pseuds/Jen425</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Can I come in?”</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hinata Kyoutarou &amp; Parad</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Enter the Game [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1766104</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>25</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Player Two</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>So it’s Ex-Aid day in Japan as of 30 minutes ago, and an Exchange I’m in opens tomorrow, so have this a bit early!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The potential of Parado’s revival is passed along from, of all people, Dan Kuroto, via Kujo Kiriya, which is to say that you have plenty of time to talk the people you need to convince into little to no punishment for the Bugster, before he even separates from Emu once more. Maybe it borders on favoritism, even nepotism, but you can’t quite bring yourself to care.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Because Parado has done and participated in terrible things, to innocents and to Emu and to yourself, but you know he’s sorry, after all Emu explained, and you know he gave his life to save people.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And if all that is true, then, really, he must be the boy with the wide smile, he must be half the boy who you grew to care for over ten years. Even if you never knew he was there, you knew him and grew to care for him, and, maybe… maybe you still do.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But you’ve decided to let him make the first move.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So suffice is to say that when Emu tells you that Parado might come by later, shortly after his “trial period” is over, you’re ready as you can be to properly meet the boy you had considered your son for longer than you knew of him for the first time.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Can I come in?” Parado asks, and he’s quiet, subdued. As though he isn’t six feet tall and capable of killing. And honestly, right now, he doesn’t look it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He looks like a boy, and he looks scared. And maybe… maybe he is.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Of course,” you say. “Emu said you might be coming.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Parado nods, walking over to sit on the other side of your desk.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Y-yeah,” he says. “I… thank you, for not locking me up. I mean, I’d deserve it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You didn’t get off without punishment,” you point out. Parado nods.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know,” he says. “And I… I understand why the CR Riders would agree, but… but why…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You think you know what he’s trying to say, even as his voice trails off, but you give him a minute to try and say it, regardless. When he doesn’t, you speak.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t think you’re Emu,” you say. “But looking back… I do think I knew you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Parado blinks.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I… what do you mean?” He asks. You hmm, watching him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How aware were you, before you were separated from Emu?” You ask. Parado blinks.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I…” he says. “I knew I existed, I guess. I mean… I guess I evolved, inside of Emu. I mean… but I also was kind of. Part of him?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He looks down at his hands, and he’s shaking.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You think about the boy that sometimes showed his emotions a bit more.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I was me, but Emu and I were… we were us, too,” Parado says. Then, quietly. “And then we weren’t.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>…and that’s enough to know there’s more he hasn’t said. How hadn’t you considered this before, when half the expressions crossing Parado’s face had crossed a younger Emu’s, once, and half of the remaining ones still do.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Then I knew you,” you say. “And you were a good person, then. That tells me something happened.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Parado blinks.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh,” he says. “I…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He’s shaking, and pulling his legs to his chest as if not aware of it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t…” he says. “I mean…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Oh no. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Oh</span>
  </em>
  <span> no.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I called you, once,” Parado says. “You didn’t know me. Of course not.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>No…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“I shouldn’t have called.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s… it’s possible. You remember that call because it had so worried you, still does. A voice, raspy and small, and deep, broken sobs.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“They experimented on you,” you says. It’s not a question.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How often do you get to test the limits of a virus’s original strain?” Parado asks in reply. He’s talking about himself, and yet it’s said matter-of-fact-ly, if in a quavering voice.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Emu used to curl up like that, when he was really nervous or in pain. Had that been Parado? Had that been both?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You push out you chair and immediately move to stand next to the boy, regardless. Gentle place a hand on his head. He flinches before just sort of… melting. Visibly reacting.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You stroke his hair and he starts to just… cry. A broken ball of a boy you might have known. So you keep petting his curly black hair as he shakes apart.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Whether or not this young man was half of the boy you’d known, and most likely he was, you think you have to be there for him, too.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sorry,” Parado says, sniffling. “I just. Um…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sometimes it helps to feel things.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Parado lets out a quiet little laugh.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I remember when you told us that,” he says. “M was feeling lonely again, and I was scared for him… and then we called you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I was right then, too,” you point out, because you do remember that.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know,” he says, he looks at you now. “So you really just… forgive me?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I do,” you reply, and you know that it’s true. His actions were terrible, but you know him, know how he got there and that Emu is smart enough not to trust him if he hadn’t really changed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thank you,” he says, quietly, and you lean down and pull him into a hug.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Of course.”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Find me on Tumblr @flaim-ita or @dancingqueen-Mai for just Toku edits</p></blockquote></div></div>
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